The Kit, The Puppy, And The Cherry Blossom
by serialhugger
Summary: Request fic. Request 1: continuation of The Lion and The Mouth. Request 2: SakuNaruHana. Second in Smurf's Naru/Hana series.
1. Chapter 1

**The Kit, The Puppy, And The Cherry Blossom**

**For:** narusaku69 & TheMadHatter577

**Disclaimer: **serialhugger admits non-ownership of Naruto and its various trademarks and copyrights.

**Notes: **This particular request has more than one part, and therefore will have more than one chapter, because of the content of later chapters this story is rated T and may go up to an M rating depending on how I edit.

**The requests:** _Request one; a continuation of The Lion And The Mouth. Request two; Saku/Naru/Hana_

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**Chapter 1**

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Sakura wasn't sure how it had happened exactly… It was all so terribly strange. One day she had been rejecting Naruto's offer to take her out for lunch, and the next she was having erotic dreams about him. She blamed it on two things: One; his persistence, and two; having caught him running around his apartment in a very small towel looking for something- what he had been looking for, though, she wasn't quite certain.

She had thought that she had successfully forgotten all about that little incident… but apparently her inner-self wasn't ready to let go of the mental image quite yet. Oh no, her inner-self was having far too much fun coming up with fantasy after fantasy to even consider letting go.

In any event, it all culminated in her responding yes, when Naruto asked, "Wanna come to lunch with me Sakura-chan?" with that same determined enthusiasm that seemed to define him so well.

So, they had gone to lunch. It hadn't been half as bad as she had thought it would be, even though she still thought of her blonde friend as being both loud and obnoxious most of the time… but he had mellowed out some since their days with Sasuke on team seven... not much, but still.

After the lunch, there had been a walk, a few friendly spars, a couple of quiet (at least on her part) conversations, a dinner, and even a picnic, which had been sort of sweet, at least up until it had been interrupted. Inner-Sakura had been pleased, shouting things like, 'YOSH!' in a disturbingly Lee like manner, and fan-girling in a way she had only ever really done over a certain Uchiha.

Outer-Sakura on the other hand, wasn't so thrilled. She liked Naruto well enough, but he was Naruto for crying out loud! He was loud and obnoxious a little over half of the time, and he had an unhealthy ramen addiction. So, she had put a stop to their semi-relationship in the nicest way she could think of.

She had canceled a few sparring sessions, and made up excuses in order to miss out on lunches (Of course she always made certain that her excuses were true… mostly, unlike their former sensei.), and forced herself not to think anymore on the subject. She had even succeded in doing so… that is, until exactly one day after the blonde had come home from a retrieval mission that had seen him paired with one Inuzuka Hana.

Hana's hands, though still a little swollen and sore, had been properly mended by a nice doctor at the Konohagakure Hospital once she and Naruto had arrived home from their mission. She found though, that the swelling and dull pain made eating anything she couldn't sip through a straw rather difficult, as holding chopsticks was near impossible. So, when Naruto had offered to help her, she had smiled at him, that same Inuzuka grin that her little brother had, and accepted the help graciously.

Sakura had been passing by the small out of the way Konoha Café on her way home when she stumbled across the pair. Hana was sitting to Naruto's left, while the blonde was popping bits of food into the Inuzuka's mouth. For a long moment, she stood rooted in place and stared. At first she had thought that her eyes had been playing tricks on her, but it soon became apparent that they hadn't been. No, it was all too real. Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's number one loudmouth, and her up until recently semi-boyfriend, was feeding the older girl.

Shaking her head to dispel her confused state, the pink haired girl continued on her way home, still feeling slightly dazed even after arriving and flopping down on her bed where she fully intended to take a nap.

The nap, Sakura would come to realize, one very illicit dream staring a certain blue-eyed blonde haired boy and an obscenely small towel later, had not been the best idea.

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I'm still taking requests.

Up next: Part 2! _"Kiba hadn't ever thought he would see a day when his big sister asked one of his friends on a date."_

**Hugs and Oreos!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own it, I don't claim otherwise.

_Hello again! One more part and then this is over and done with... I think. Enjoy!_

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Part 2!**

Sakura had been unable to shake the image of Naruto from her mind. At first she had been able to ignore her inner-self, but after the first two days or so, she had finally given into Inner-Sakura's demands, and set out to stalk the whisker-marked boy.

Stalking was something she had experience with after all, and Naruto was no where near as observant as her previous object of affection, which made things all the more easier on her.

Just the other day she had cornered him in the baths, while he was with Iruka. The blonde had looked rather fetching when wet and flushed from the heat of the naturally warm waters.

Sakura had been grateful that the heat could explain away her own flushed features, even though the actual cause had absolutely nothing to do with temperature, and everything to do with the lean tanned figure of Naruto when he stood in the not quite hip deep water in order to stretch out the muscles in his back.

She had also been careful- very careful- to disguise herself as a lesser known Gennin boy, of about fourteen years old, so as not to get caught and labled a pervert like Jiraiya, or Ebisu. She had also avoided looking in Iruka's direction. The thought of her former teacher in the buff was actually rather disturbing, though she knew very well that there were several people who would disagree.

It was actually during one of her perv-on-Naruto sessions, that she came across one of the former rookie nine, attempting to heal up a particularly gruesome looking gash on his shin- rather poorly if she did say so herself- and grumbling about something about stupid blondes, and evil older sisters under his breath as he did so.

Deciding to take pity on Kiba, she stopped and offered to treat the non-leathal, but certainly painful injury. Besides, maybe the Inuzuka boy could tell her which direction Naruto had taken off in.

Kiba hadn't ever thought he would see a day when his big sister asked one of his friends on a date. Even if he had fathomed the idea- which he most certainly hadn't- he would have expected her to show interest in Shino, or Shikamaru, or even Neji; never in a million years would he have suspected his sister of being interested in Naruto.

It was sort of shocking.

Alright, so 'sort of' was an understatement. He just couldn't understand the attraction.

But… now that he thought about it, it made at least a little sense. It definitely explained a few things. She had gotten along with the blue-eyed boy surprisingly well the day he had introduced the two of them. Hana never got along with his friends so well right off the bat; it had been unusual to say the least. She had probably felt an attraction to the blonde even then.

It also made sense that she would act quickly on her feelings.

"…Makes sense, I guess," Kiba spoke as Sakura looked over the wound in his shin. "Nee-chan isn't the sit around and wait type." Sakura's grip on his leg tightened almost painfully for a moment, but the younger Inuzuka sibling simply continued grumbling about how things stood between his sister and the loudmouth as he had been doing for the past ten minutes or so, "Doesn't mean I have to like it though… And why'd she have to kick me so damn hard?!"

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Hugs and Oreos! 


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** _serialhugger does not own Naruto or any copyrights or trademarks thereof, and does not make any financial profit from this work. Naruto belongs to its original creator, and various license holders._

**A/N:** Welcome to the third and final part of _The Kit, The Puppy, And The Cherry Blossom_. In the previous chapters the story has been told primarily from Sakura's stand point, with a little bit of Kiba (because he's just adorable) thrown in at the tail end of part two, and Hana wrapping up the last half of part one. It has come to my attention that Naruto has been rather left out during the whole process, and I aim to remedy that in this the final installment.

I hope you all enjoy what you are about to read.

**The Kit, The Puppy, And The Cherry Blossom Part 3!**

For the past few weeks, Naruto had been experiencing that singularly creepy sensation one always experiences when being watched. The short sunny blonde hairs at the back of his neck stood on end on more than one occasion, usually when he was doing something of a private nature… like bathing, and a few other more embarrassing things that most teenaged males indulged in when alone.

However, the feeling was even more frequent when he was out and about doing normal things, like eating at Ichiraku, or spending time with Inuzuka Hana, whose hands had healed up rather nicely, proving that his first-aid skills, though nowhere near the level of the other ninja's he knew, weren't all together lacking. Even the Old-Hag had said he had done a good job of preventing infection from setting in.

What did he need first-aid for anyway? His squatter wasn't about to let him die anytime soon, as it would mean an end to both their existences. Still, he had to admit, it was a useful thing to have under one's belt in his line of work.

But, back to the point, he was being stalked, and it was a bit disturbing.

His stalker hadn't tried anything though, so maybe it was just Konohamaru brushing up on his stealth skills. Though that didn't explain why he hadn't felt the presence leave during what- if one were to be polite about it- could only be termed private moments. As a matter of fact, the idea of Konohamaru witnessing him in such a state disturbed him even further than the fact that he was being stalked.

... Or maybe (he really hoped this was it)... he was just being paranoid?

Yeah, that had to be it. Shinobi got paranoid from time to time; it was a hazard of the job. Like the time when Neji had gotten it into his head that someone had somehow broken into the Hyuuga estate, and had been switching his conditioner. When, really, what had happened was the manufacturer had changed the labels, so that the type for normal hair was now red, and the type for treated hair was now blue.

With that thought firmly in mind Naruto went about forgetting his earlier stalker related anxieties, and instead focused on an entirely new set of personal dilemmas... or rather, one large dilemma.

He was once again low on cash, and he didn't have any missions until the next day at the very soonest. So how was he supposed to eat? He could have attempted to make something for himself, but he had run out of instant ramen, and everything in his refrigerator (what little that was) was passed its expiry date.

He'd learned his lesson about spoiled milk back when he had first become a Gennin, and he was pretty sure that vegetables weren't meant to be fuzzy, or have strange bluish-grey splotches.

He could stop by Iruka's and hope that the older man would feed him, but Iruka's next paycheque wasn't due for another four days. And, contrary to popular belief, Naruto was very aware of how much money it cost to sate his hunger. Only an Akimichi could match- and probably best him- when it came to the consumption of food; another option lost to him.

Another option was Sakura, she had been pretty friendly as of late, even coming out to lunch with him on a few occasions, but she was working a shift at the hospital until later that night, and he was hungry now.

Mentally he ran down the list of other people he might be able to mooch off of, and finally his mind settled on Hana. Of course, he wouldn't call it mooching exactly; he'd make the offer to repay her by taking her out sometime later in the week, providing they were both in the village. He'd done the same for Sakura once, and it wasn't as if Hana would mind. She'd done it before; paid for his meals that is, just like he had paid for hers, and sometimes they even split the bill.

Smiling, the blonde went off in search of the veterinarian.

Finding Hana had been remarkably easy, as all he had to do was open the door of his apartment. Hana stood on the other side, hand raised to knock.

"Hana-chan!" the blonde grinned.

The Inuzuka girl offered him a smile of her own. "Are you headed out?"

It would seem a stupid question, but Naruto knew what she had meant by it. He had a bad habit of leaving on short C ranked missions with only the clothes on his back, and the weapons he could carry and conceal on his person. "Nope! I was coming to find you."

"Oh!" the older girls smile widened, her fangs showing. "I'd thought you'd forgotten."

Forgotten? Naruto didn't voice his question out loud. He had forgotten something? Well that much was obvious, but what had he forgotten exactly? He searched his mind for a moment, but couldn't come up with anything.

"You did forget," Hana's eyes widened, and she let out a loud, not-unpleasant, laugh. When Naruto opened his mouth to apologize, she shook her head and continued to speak, "It's okay Naruto-kun," her smile was honest, Naruto could tell that much. "I knew you would. You don't have the greatest memory when it comes to this sort of thing."

Naruto rubbed at the back of his neck in a way much too cute for a teenager, and grinned sheepishly, allowing himself to be led out of his apartment, through the hall, down the stairs, and out of the building to the street. As they neared his favorite ramen stand, his memory began to kick in.

The previous week, before Hana's hands had finished healing, he had agreed to meet her for ramen- her treat. Of course, Naruto had been called away on a mission, and they hadn't been able to go, but he had left a note on the door of the veterinary clinic asking if they could postpone their ramen date. When he'd gotten back, Hana had been out of the village on a mission of her own, and so the date had been postponed again.

It looked like the blonde would get something into his stomach after all.

Hana, Naruto noticed, was a surprisingly delicate eater. He'd seen her eat before of course, on missions, and when he'd helped her to eat because her hands had still been too swollen and sensitive to use chopsticks, or any other eating utensils properly, but this was different. Her hands were graceful as they raised the noodles to her mouth. He found himself staring, as he slurped up his own meal.

Naruto didn't quite know why he found the sight of Hana eating to be so interesting. Somehow, he just did. Her movements were fluid, and her mouth opened only slightly when she brought the food to her lips, in a very ladylike manner that reminded him of Hinata, or of one of the women Jiraiya wrote about...

Bad comparison he realized, as he very nearly choked on his noodles. He shouldn't be thinking that way about the Inuzuka; he wasn't a pervert! No, of course he wasn't; the village already had enough perverts- Kakashi, or Ebisu for example.

Still, he couldn't seem to stop the thoughts from rushing through his head. The scene was very similar to one he had heard Jiraiya mumbling about during their travels. The old man had been jotting down notes in a little book, with lined pages, and muttering about a brunette woman at a ramen stand; the story centered around the woman, and a slightly younger man- the cook's son, if he remembered correctly.

Finishing off his third bowl without even realizing it, the blonde continued to watch his companion eat her meal. He very nearly whimpered when a droplet of broth clung to the older girl's lower lip, making her lick it away with her tongue.

He may not have been a pervert, but he was a hormonal teenaged boy, who had spent the better part of three years with a writer of soft-core pornography. The sight of Hana's pink tongue darting out to catch the droplet of broth had him once again thinking of the story his former mentor had been working on several years ago.

It wasn't until he felt a gentle pressure against his lips that he realized he had been doing more than simply replaying the scenes in his head. He had been acting them out! His mouth was currently moving over Hana's eagerly responsive one, breaking apart only at the sound of a familiar voice calling his name.

Sakura had managed to find Naruto rather easily, after all ramen and Naruto were like porn and Kakashi, though the position she found him in left much to be desired.

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Hugs and Oreos!


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